Assessment of public open space research hotspots, vitalities, and outlook using CiteSpace

Abstract

Urbanization is essential for human development and progress. Therefore, it is urgent to study urban public open space (POS) under the dual impact of urbanization construction and the global COVID-19 outbreak. Bibliometric visual analysis is currently popular in academia, as it can be used to analyze specific fields. This research summarizes the development history, hotspots, and trends in POS, with theoretical and data support based on the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection. The study period was from 2002 to 2022. A total of 398 papers were collected, with the number of papers increasing over time. The research covers various fields, including environment, architecture, ecology, geography, design, behavior, etc. The results show that POS research hotspots include form layout, social value, and sustainable renewal. This paper demonstrates that there is a lack of vitality in urban POS. Although affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the fundamental reason for this is that the vitality of POS is not created from multiple dimensions. Vitality should be enhanced according to the space’s terrain, ecology, environment, and other factors. POS research lacks crossdisciplinary collaboration and the fusion of multiple fields. Thus, cooperation between the various disciplines involved must be strengthened. In the future, POS research should change its design concept, continue to place the “human” in the leading position, establish a multidisciplinary research system, use local empirical cases, and develop applicable theories that can be extended upon. Thus, it will be possible to build harmonious open spaces that enhance the relationship between the people and the land and provide practical solutions for other countries in which urbanization is advancing.